Category Archives: oa.openglam

Executive Summary: Research findings and recommendations for developing a Declaration on Open Access to Cultural Heritage

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“Cultural heritage institutions face a number of obstacles to digitizing and making collections available online. Many are beyond their control. But there is one important area that these institutions do have control over: the access and reuse parameters applied to a breadth of media generated during the reproduction of public domain works.

Whether to claim intellectual property rights (IPR) or release the reproduction media of public domain works via open access parameters is a contentious topic among the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums). Evidence shows GLAMs take a range of approaches to open access and encounter various obstacles that can hamper the release of cultural materials to the public domain. One of these obstacles is the lack of coordinated and sustainable support for GLAMs with open access ambitions.

Earlier this year, Wikimedia Foundation and Creative Commons came together to assist the OpenGLAM initiative and bridge this gap. The Wikimedia Foundation provided funding for an exploratory research paper on open access to cultural heritage. With the Wikimedia Foundation’s support, Creative Commons is now leading an initiative to develop a Declaration on Open Access to Cultural Heritage, along with a public consultation process to refine and generate consensus on what the Declaration might achieve.

This resource is meant to kick off that process. It brings together valuable insight from practice with wider societal questions to reflect on the trajectory of the open GLAM movement to date and its future needs. The research to support this work sought to:

To take stock of and reflect on open GLAM practices and the intellectual property rights (IPR) management of digital collections; and within this

Identify areas of uncertainty presenting barriers to open GLAM participation;

Identify new areas of focus emerging from open GLAM practice; and

Produce an open access resource to inform the development of a Declaration on Open Access for Cultural Heritage….”

Towards a Declaration on Open Access for Cultural Heritage

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“Over the past decade, important work by the cultural sector has led to dramatically expanded access to public domain heritage collections. Out of this work, an open GLAM (Galleries, Archives, Libraries, and Museums) movement has grown to support the creation and management of digital collections and their reuse by new audiences and user-groups globally. But research increasingly shows that greater consensus is needed to ensure no new rights are claimed in non-original reproduction media, and that digital cultural heritage and identities are shared responsibly, both within, but also separate from, established institutions.

This initiative proposes co-developing a Declaration on Open Access for Cultural Heritage to guide more equitable practices around open access. It advances the need for a living document that provides workable definitions, goals, and standards for making digital cultural heritage available, accessible, and reusable, and one that can adapt to emerging topics relevant to the future of digital media and cultural heritage engagement.

Below you will find a Declaration draft and a research paper to support this initiative, along with information on how to get involved. Over the next few months, Creative Commons will be supporting rounds of public consultations on the Declaration draft to co-develop a final, revised version. We invite you to join us! …”

Uncovering the global picture of Open GLAM – Open GLAM – Medium

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“How many cultural heritage institutions make their digital collections available for free reuse? How do they do this, and where is open access most prevalent? Twelve months ago, Andrea Wallace and I set out to find some answers.

In the first post in a short series, I recount the origins and motivations of the Open GLAM survey….”